Weakness
by 88Keys
Summary: Sometimes the strong can be brought down by something tiny. A day at the beach turns deadly for Adam. Will his family save him in time? Complete- will not be a series as I had originally intended.


Author's Note: I know I said originally that this would be a series of one-shots, but I've changed my mind about that. I'm marking this as "complete." Any future ideas I might have will be published as their own story rather than a part of this one.

Also, I forgot to say thank you to my lovely beta-reader, Musicnotes093. You rock. :)

Weakness

By 88Keys

To Adam Davenport, there was nothing better than a day at the beach.

He and his siblings spent most of their time either at school or in their basement lab at home. They breathed stale, re-circulated air and didn't see the sun very often. Here on the beach the air was warm, fresh, and crisp. The salt and sand seemed to scrub everything clean. The view was beautiful- sparkling sand and sunlight shinning on the surface of the water.

Not to mention there were pretty girls basically walking around in their underwear.

Yes, nothing was better than the beach.

Adam, Bree, and Chase had finally convinced their creator, Mr. Davenport, to give them a day off to go to the beach _by themselves. _Well, almost by themselves. Their step-brother, Leo, had been sent to keep an eye on them. Currently he was scanning the beach looking for girls who might be willing to give him the time of day. Bree was talking to some of her girl friends and trying to look for cute guys without looking like she was looking. Chase was applying yet another layer of sunscreen to his arms and face.

Adam tossed the football he had brought up into the air. "Come on, Chase. We can throw the football back and forth. Leo says it will impress the girls and they'll talk to us."

"They'll talk to you, you mean," Chase grumbled. "No one is going to be impressed by how I throw a football."

Adam grinned. "Works for me. Now go long!"

Chase sighed and backed up a few yards. Adam threw an easy pass, which Chase still had to jump to catch.

"You call that 'going long?' Back up more!" Adam said.

Chase took a few more steps back and threw the football hard to his brother. It still barely made it into Adam's waiting arms.

"Adam!" Leo called out as he came trotting up behind his step-brother. "What are you doing?"

Adam looked confused. "Throwing the football, like you said."

Leo sighed. "But you're throwing like a _normal person._"

Adam started at him blankly.

"You're bionic…" Leo prompted him.

Adam looked around and lowered his voice. "You think I should use my bionics to impress the girls?"

Leo placed a hand on Adam's shoulder. "Adam, you're sixteen years old and you have super strength. _Of course_ I think you should use it to impress girls."

Adam looked at Chase, who was still standing in the same place, looking impatient. "Back up more!"

Chase ran back a few more yards.

Adam waved him back. "More!"

"Just throw it already!" Chase cried, exasperated.

Adam pulled back his arm and executed a perfect spiral throw, with the strength of ten men. The ball went sailing over Chase's head and rocketed down the beach. It finally landed a hundred yards away, narrowly missing a large sandcastle near the water's edge.

Around him, Adam heard a few shouts of "whoa!" and a couple of long low whistles. He looked up and saw a group of girls staring at him. One of them lowered her sunglasses and smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Told ya," Leo said. He squinted through the bright sunlight at Chase, who was trudging down the beach after the football, head down in defeat.

"That's going to take a while," he said. "I'm going to go get a snack."

"Oooh! Bring me a candy bar!"

Leo held out his hand. "Money?"

Adam pointed to his red board shorts, which had no pockets. "Sorry. I'll pay you back next time."

"Yeah, that's what you said the last five times," Leo muttered as he walked towards the snack bar.

Down the beach, Chase had finally caught up to the football and was wiping some of the sand off of it.

"Your friend can really throw," said a high-pitched voice behind him.

Chase turned and saw a blonde girl, about his height, smiling at him. She wore a red bikini, and her eyes were hidden by large sunglasses.

"Yeah. Yeah, he's great," Chase said grumbled.

"How about you? Can you throw that far?" The girl punctuated her sentences by noisily chomping on a large piece of gum.

Chase shook his head. "No, I…" his voice trailed off as a thought came to him. _Adam isn't the only one with bionics._ He may not have super strength, but he had super brains. A_nd clever beats smart every time._

He looked at the girl, who was still waiting for him to answer. "Let's find out."

His computer-like mind quickly calculated wind speed, football weight, spin, velocity, and distance to tell him how hard he needed to throw. _A few calculations, and add a little molecular kinesis on top…_

Chase took a running start and at the exact right moment, swung his arm forward and released the ball. It sailed forwards and up so high he could barely see it. When it started to come down he let his molecular kinesis take over. The ball flew forward, rocketing past a very surprised Adam and landing somewhere in the grass on the dunes far behind him.

"Wow!" The girl squealed. She held out one of her slim hands to him. "That was amazing! I'm Candy."

_What do you know? Leo was right._

Chase took her hand in his and smiled. "I'm Chase."

* * *

The ball had landed on the other side of the sand dunes that bordered the beach. The dunes were protected by a fence, which meant that Adam had to walk around it before he could get to the other side. When he finally got to what he thought was the right place, he couldn't find the ball anywhere.

"Well-played, Chase," he mumbled, digging through the scrubby weeds and grass as he looked for the ball. His hand brushed a tall patch of grass out of the way, and something black and yellow buzzed and flew up beside his face. Adam swatted it away, and it seemed to disappear. But seconds later, he felt a sharp sting on the back of his neck.

"Ow!" Adam slapped at the back of his neck and felt something small and fuzzy inside his hand. He jerked it away and opened his hand, revealing a black and yellow bee, now dead, in his palm. He could still feel the tingle where it had stung his neck.

"Jerk!" he pronounced and dropped the bee in the sand.

He continued to hunt for the ball, but the pain in the back of his neck where the bee had stung him did not go away. In fact, it grew steadily worse. A burning pain seemed to radiate out from the sting all the way across his neck, up into his jaw, and down into his shoulders. It was like someone had injected liquid fire into him. The skin on the back of his neck felt hot and began to itch like crazy.

Finally he spotted the football, lying almost completely hidden in a clump of scrubby dune grass. Adam bent to pick it up and a wave of dizziness passed over him. He tried to shake it off, but shaking his head made it even worse. He stepped back dizzily and nearly fell over.

Something wasn't right….he had been fine a few minutes ago. _What's happening to me?_

Adam looked out at the beach, scanning the crowd for Chase, Bree, or Leo. He couldn't make any of them out against the dozens of people crowding the beach that day. He needed to get help, but walking that far felt impossible. He stumbled forward, taking slow, unsteady steps. His skin still burned, his head ached, and now his throat was starting to hurt, too.

"Chase!" Adam tried to call out, but his throat was so sore. He could barely raise his voice above normal speaking levels.

"Chase," he tried again. His was trying to scream, but his voice was coming out more like a whimper.

"Chase, help me."

* * *

Although it could come in handy at certain times, having bionic hearing was usually more of annoyance than anything. Sometimes it could be downright overwhelming.

The first time Chase had attended school, the gaggle of loud voices coupled with unfamiliar sounds like lockers slamming and bells ringing were enough to nearly drive him mad. He had returned home and begged Mr. Davenport to remove his bionic hearing. Although he didn't agree, Davenport had tweaked it to make the hearing less sensitive. He also gave Chase the ability to turn down or tune out certain sounds. But there was one sound that his ears always picked up, no matter how loud or soft it was. The sound of someone saying his name.

And right now, someone was saying it.

"Chase." It was a soft but desperate-sounding plea that immediately caught Chase's attention. He smoothed back the hair surrounding his left ear, which was the motion that caused his full bionic hearing abilities to kick in.

"Chase, help me."

It was definitely Adam. But Chase had never heard him sound like that.

"So that's why I'll never take surfing lessons again," Candy was saying. Chase was momentarily pulled out of the moment and back into the conversation he and Candy had been having before he heard Adam. Or at least, the conversation that she was having and Chase was merely listening to. He hadn't been able to get a word in for the past five minutes.

"What?"

"Surfing," she repeated. "But parasailing is really fun. I know a guy who has a boat and he gives me rides for free. I can bring whoever I want, whenever I want. Do you want to-"

"Uh, Candy?" Chase finally managed to interrupt her. "I, uh, need to go."

"Oh," Candy said, sounding disappointed. She chomped noisily on her gum a few more times.

"But I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere, OK? Please?"

She smiled. "OK. But hurry back!'

Chase took one more look at the sun shining on her yellow hair and sighed. _This better be important, Adam._

He couldn't see his brother anywhere, so Chase tapped into the app that could locate his siblings for him at any time. Adam was about 150 yards away, on the dunes behind the fence.

"Chase…please help…" Chase broke into a run. Something was definitely wrong if Adam was begging him for help. And why did he sound as if he could barely speak?

As he ran, Chase caught sight of Bree just down the beach, talking to a few of her friends. He waved and called her over. She looked annoyed, but grudgingly came towards him when she saw that he was running.

"What, Chase? We were just about to go to-"

"Something's wrong with Adam. Come on."

Bree looked confused, but willingly ran after her brother.

Chase followed the app's directions until he found his Adam, down on his knees in the sand. He was pale and shaking, and his breath was coming in wheezing gasps.

"Adam!" Chase cried. He and Bree dropped to their knees next to their brother. "Adam, what happened?"

"Don't know," Adam gasped. "I got stung…by a bee. Neck hurts…throat hurts…hard to breathe." He pointed to the back of his neck. Chase could see the bump where the bee had struck. The skin around it was red and swollen, and angry red streaks spread around his neck and down into his shoulders. He touched it gently. The skin felt hot to the touch.

"What do we do?" Bree asked him worriedly.

Chase stood up and tapped his temple and scanned his internal computer for information about bee stings. "Swelling…trouble breathing..dizziness…check, check, and check. Seek medical attention…call 911 if reaction is severe."

"We can't do that," Bree reminded him. They had been told since childhood to avoid doctors and hospitals. They couldn't risk an X-Ray or CAT scan revealing their bionics to the world.

"Here!" Chase cried as he continued reading. "It says that an injection of epinephrine can relive symptoms."

"Ep-uh-nef-rin?"

"It's another name for adrenaline. Bree, run home and tell Mr. Davenport what's going on. He probably has adrenaline somewhere. He used to use it to make our power pellets, remember?"

"Got it." In a split-second she was gone.

Chase knew his sister could be home in a few seconds, but would it be fast enough? And what if Mr. Davenport wasn't home? He wouldn't let his brother suffocate. He would have to call an ambulance, and then their secret would be discovered…

"Adam," Chase said, kneeling down by his brother again. "You need to sit up instead of being on your knees. It will help you get more air." He helped push Adam back into a sitting position and put a hand on his back to help hold him up.

"Just keep breathing, Adam. It'll be over soon. Just…just don't stop breathing."

Adam was trying, but it felt like he was breathing through a straw. Each breath seemed to take tremendous effort and to bring in less and less air. His head hurt, he was hot and sweaty and shaking all over, and his vision was blurry. Soon, he wouldn't be able to get any air in at all. He was so close to passing out now.

_This must be what dying feels like._

A _woosh _of air signaled Bree's return. In her hand was a syringe.

"Davenport said to give him this," she explained breathlessly. "Stick it in the outside of his thigh."

Chase looked dubious. "Me? Give him a shot?"

"Yes! Hurry up!"

Chase took the syringe and looked almost as ill as Adam.

"OK…um…" Chase took a deep breath, trying to hold back the nausea he was feeling.

"Anytime, Chase," Bree said.

"I'm just, you know, not a big fan of needles…"

"Are you serious?" Bree asked incredulously.

"Guys," Adam gasped softly. "Kinda… dying… here."

Bree grabbed the syringe away from Chase and pulled up the hem of Adam's board shorts. "OK, Adam, I got this." She took a deep breath, plunged the needle through the skin, and pushed the plunger down until it was empty.

She and Chase peered at Adam expectantly. He had barely flinched when the needle pierced his skin.

"Adam?" Bree asked.

Adam took a breath, and this time, he actually felt like he was getting some air. Each following breath got deeper and easier, and some of the swelling in his face and neck began to ease.

"Better?" Chase asked.

Adam nodded. "I can breathe," he said happily. Both Bree and Chase sighed in relief.

They all heard the squeal of tires behind them. They turned to see Mr. Davenport's super speed convertible pull up and slam to a halt. He could cover the distance to the beach almost as quickly as Bree in that car. Davenport jumped out and ran over to where they were sitting.

"Did it work? Are you OK?!"

"Yeah," Adam said. "I think so."

Davenport sighed with relief. "We still need to get you home so I can treat you. The adrenaline is only a temporary fix. Chase, help me get him into the car."

Two hours later Adam was sleeping in his capsule, and Bree, Chase, and Davenport were watching him through the glass.

"The antihistamines I gave him will counter the effects of the bee venom," Davenport explained. "They will also make him very sleepy. He should be out for the rest of the day, and probably through the night. I've set his capsule to constantly monitor his vital signs and to alert me if there is a sudden change."

"It's hard to believe someone as strong as Adam could be taken down by something as tiny as a bee," Bree said.

"Yeah, we can add that to his list of arch-enemies, along with 'spelling test' and 'tying his shoelaces,'" Chase said.

"Well, now that we know he has this allergy, he'll have to carry an Epi-pen with him at all times in case he needs another injection. And I want you two and Leo to carry one too, because, well, this is Adam we're talking about. Now, how about we all go upstairs and find something to eat?"

"It kind of feels like we're forgetting something," Chase said as they turned towards the elevator.

Just then, the doors opened and Leo burst through.

"Leo!" Davenport cried.

"Yeah, Leo!" Chase said. "That's what we forgot."

"Leo, I am so sorry," Davenport apologized. "I forgot to drive you home from the beach."

"Are you kidding?!" Leo asked excitedly. "I just had the BEST afternoon of my life. I met this girl named Candy, and she's really cute, and she took me parasailing, and I got her number-"

"WHAT?!" Chase cried. "Leo, that was supposed to be me!"

Leo shrugged. "You snooze, you lose." He glanced at their surprised faces, then noticed Adam sleeping in his capsule.

"So, what did I miss?"

THE END


End file.
